Love's dark side
by TheDarkwriter7
Summary: 'Rick, wait!" Damien called to the sheriff. Rick obeyed the boy's words and reluctantly lowered his gun before backing away from Sophia and looking at Damien with a wondering look. "You're gonna have to trust me". For a second, Rick looked to be deciding what to do but after a few seconds and to Damien's relief, he nodded.' Oneshot series. Carl/Sophia. Includes OC, PLEASE R&R!
1. Introduction

**SERIES DISCLAMIER – I DO NOT OWN THE WALKING DEAD, IT IS OWNED BY AMC.**

_(A/N – I just want to point something out right now - in order to make this oneshot series work, I had to put an OC of mine in for the plot. I have not decided yet if I will have him appear throughout the entire series or if he will just appear in this introduction. I just wanted to let you guys know that so you can still give this series a chance._

_P.S – The OC of mine from this introduction MAY or MAY NOT appear in other 'Walking dead' stories I create.)_

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**Love's dark side – introduction**

The group could not believe the sight before them. They had spent SO LONG on their mission to find her, to find Sophia Pelitier and the entire time, she had been in the barn as a walker. Carol was currently sobbing her daughter's name whilst being held back from her zombified daughter by Daryl Dixon, as was Carl Grimes but being held back by his mother. Shane, Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog and Dale were simply watching silently with the exception of Rick, who appeared to be breathing heavily. Hershel Greene was simply staring also; a look of anger and horror stuck to his lips whilst his daughters known as Maggie and Beth began crying at the violence. Noticing that no one was doing anything, Rick swallowed down his grief and went to put an end to the girl's misery whilst another survivor began thinking something over in their mind.

The survivor's name was Damien Jenner and he was the son of Edwin Jenner who the group had met at the CDC. Before he set the CDC to self-destruct, Edwin pleaded Rick to take his son with him so he wouldn't have to live in this world alone because technically, he was still a kid. Accepting the man's request, Rick, Shane and Daryl had all had to work together to get the resisting boy into Dale's RV and away from the CDC. When the building had exploded and killed Damien's father, he began crying his grief away and even began to take his anger out on the people in the RV at the time (Glenn, Andrea, Dale, Carol and Sophia) but no one calmed him down because they all knew what he was going through in some manner.

Damien was a 15 year old boy who stood at a staggering height (for his age) of 5 foot 10. He had brown hair that sat on his head in a helmet-like fashion whilst it came down to just above his shoulders. He had beautiful (as his father had once said) sapphire eyes to go with his kind character because even though Damien did have his moments, he was overall one of the nicest people the Atlanta survivors have ever come across. He wore a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms, a pair of black trainers that had 'no hope left' in purple along the sides and he wore a black shirt which had the logo for the 'Resident evil 6' video game on the front and the words 'Our hiding places diminished... we turned to hope... but she had fled. NO HOPE LEFT' in purple on the back.

As Rick raised his gun to point it at zombified Sophia, Damien pulled a syringe full of blue liquid out from his trouser pocket; the colour of the liquid is said to represent hope. Damien argued with himself in head; he wanted to believe his father had got it right this time but if he hadn't, Damien would be putting the whole group in danger and plus, was Sophia really worth it? Damien looked from the syringe and at said girl.

Yes, Sophia WAS worth the risk. Ever since he was dragged out of the CDC, Sophia had become like the sister he never had with her desire to cheer people up and plus, she meant a lot to a lot of other people as well as him. With this in mind, Damien quickly took action before Rick could pull the trigger of his firearm.

"Rick, wait!" Damien called to the sheriff. Rick obeyed the boy's words and reluctantly lowered his gun before backing away from Sophia and looking at Damien with a wondering look. "You're gonna have to trust me" he said. For a second, Rick looked to be deciding what to do but after a few seconds and to Damien's relief, he nodded.

Damien stepped forward and looked towards T-dog. "T-dog" he called to him. "I know this is gonna sound like I've lost it but you're going to have to trust me alright?" T-dog nodded slowly after a moment of thought with Damien smiling in response. "I need you to grab Sophia and hold her back from me so she can't attack me, alright?" T-dog looked hesitant at first but then slowly stepped forward towards the zombified girl with the other members of the group watching in fascination. After a quick speed manoeuvre, T-dog managed to get Sophia in a full nelson lock. With his target now held in place, Damien stepped forward with the syringe in his hand.

Damien looked at the syringe one last time before he stuck the needle of it into Sophia's neck and into her bloodstream. As soon as he pressed the blue liquid into her, she began to moan sounds of denial and she began to shake. At this, Damien motioned for T-dog to release her and he simply watched the girl in patience. "C'mon please" he began to say to himself. "C'mon dad, you HAVE to have figured it out!" Sophia's shakes begun to slow down. "The brain cells, the brain cells" Damien continued to himself.

After another minute of Sophia shaking about and Damien saying something scientific to himself, Sophia stopped shaking and became still. The moment this happened, the group all looked from Sophia to Damien, who now had an uneasy smile upon his face. "C'mon" he started to himself as he neared the girl he wished was his sister. "Give me a day like this, just one." Damien gave Sophia a light pat on the head and the girl raised it to look at him. Her look did not contain the one of hunger but now, one of wonder.

"D...D...Dam...Dami...Damien..."

Damien's uneasy smile turned into a full teeth grin of absolute happiness as he picked the 12 year old girl up in his arms to spin her around and started cheering. "WELCOME BACK!" he practically screamed in joy. He pulled her back to look into her still milky eyes. "You may have the body of one of them rotters but you're back with us now!" Damien let another cry of happiness loose from his mouth as he pulled Sophia in for a hug.

"What happened?" Damien turned around to see Carol, now free of Daryl's arms who had an uneasy look on her face but he swore he could see a glimpse of happiness. "I injected her with my dad's half cure; the unfinished product. She might still have a walker's body but she's got her own mind!" Carol looked down from Damien to her supposedly cured daughter to see an awkward half smile (as much as an undead girl can manage). The girl opened her arms wide.

"...M...Ma...Mama...Mama..."

Tears of happiness began to fall from Carol's eyes as she took her 'daughter' into her arms for a bone breaking hug. As Damien looked around, he noticed that quite a lot of the group's members had tears of joy at least evident within their eyes whilst clear happiness and surprise was written on their faces. After Carol let her daughter go, they both heard a shy voice.

"S...Sophia?"

The girl in question and her mother turned to see Carl Grimes, standing awkwardly with his hands behind his back in a shy fashion. "Is that really you?" he asked. Sophia looked at her mother who simply smiled and gave a slight nod to the nervous boy's direction. At the motion, Sophia began to slowly walk forward towards Carl. When she got close enough so that they were almost touching, she nodded slowly and took his human white hand into her own zombie grey one.

As the scene played out before him, Damien looked to the bright blue sky above his head. _'You see, father'_ he thought to himself but in the direction of his dead father's spirit. _'Your efforts did NOT go to waste. Your research has paid off and you have made quite a few miserable people happy today. Maybe, sometime in the future, I can get to work on creating a full cure and saving the world but for now, I want to thank you because thanks to your efforts..._

_Sophia is still with us._

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_(A/N – And there you go! I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly did. Before I go, I just want to ask/tell you guys some things..._

_1. If you are going to review, please tell me if you would like to see more of my OC, Damien. If more people do, I will include him in some oneshots and if more people don't then I'll just either not mention him in this series again or I'll write how he was killed._

_2. All the updates (oneshots) following this one will be set in the prison and at points, I may even try to follow the story line so I just want to let you know that all character deaths will be counted as normal except for Sophia's and if it happens, Carl's._

_3. Finally, I want to let you guys know that as long as I have oneshot ideas, this series WILL NOT END. I already have a couple of ideas in mind but if you guys come up with some and want it used, don't be afraid to send me a PM or put the idea in a review._


	2. Training

**Love's dark side – training**

"Alright, now just slowly lift it and then pull the trigger" said Carl as he stood next to his half-zombie friend. It had been a bristling 8 months since Hershel's farm and Sophia's 'half cure' and honestly, things were going quite well. A couple of days ago, the group had come across a prison and had claimed it for their own and had even come across another small group of survivors; five prisoners but only two were actually excepted into the group. At this point in time, Carl and Sophia were standing by the chain fence; the latter holding a revolver handgun within her grip. Yes, Carl was teaching Sophia how to use a firearm.

In fact, the entire group had been teaching Sophia A LOT of things lately. Carol had helped her daughter with walking normally again (well, she was still a bit slow but she had gotten better), the entire green family had started to help her recover her average skills (writing, talking more clearly, she would even have to read a bit if they could find a book) and Rick, Carl and Daryl were given the task of training the young Pelitier to protect herself.

This however, had not gone the way the trio had planned. Yes, they knew it would take a while because Sophia couldn't move her body as accurately anymore but they had been on the same task for FOUR DAYS, the task for Sophia to shoot a part of a tree with a target on it. From the start, the human-zombie hybrid had tried to talk her way out of and being who they were, the boys wouldn't allow it but by the second day of the first task, Rick and Daryl had gotten tired of waiting and told Carl to fetch them when she hit the target.

Sophia raised the revolver as steadily as she could (which wasn't that well) and closed her left eye to try and get a better aim down the iron sight. A wave of silence then overtook the pair as Carl awaited the _'boom' _of the firearm and after a few seconds, it finally came as well as a frustrated moan from Sophia as the bullet skimmed the tree and was nowhere near the target.

"Carl" she began. "...Can we not just... stop t-th-this? It's getting... kinda old" she finished with a displeased look on her face. "No Sophia" Carl said sternly in response. "You have to know how to protect yourself from the enemy." Sophia used her milky eyes to look directly into Carl's own coloured ones as an unamused facial expression evidently appeared on her face. "Carl...I don't NEED to protect myself because 'the enemy' won't ever attack me" she said, referring to the other walkers. As Carl was about to counter, he closed his mouth in defeat when he realised she was right; the walkers wouldn't attack her whilst she was partly one of them. Sophia suddenly smirked uncharacteristically. "Besides... if they did... you would probably save me."

Carl 'accidentally' allowed a blush to appear on his cheeks. Even though he would NEVER admit it to anyone, Carl had a crush on Sophia Pelitier... still. He had had a crush on her since he first met her and even though she now had monstrous like features, under all that, she was the same sweet, caring girl. Carl turned away from his smirking friend to hide his blush. "You're right" he started. "I probably would so I guess there is no need to carry on training you." Sophia let what sounded like a happy cheer escape from her throat as she walked towards Carl and put her grey zombie hand on his flushed cheeks. This only intensified his blush and this didn't go unnoticed by Sophia.

"Aw, am I making you all embarrassed?" she asked teasingly. Carl glared at her even though she was right before using his human white hand to move her walker grey one from his cheek. "Don't do that again please" he asked to which Sophia smirked again and put a hand on her hip. "And take that smirk off your face, it's annoying." The girl stuck her tongue out at him for a reply to which Carl rolled his eyes and they began to walk back to their cell block.

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When the pair returned to the cell block, they were immediately spotted by Rick and Daryl. As they were about to join them, they heard someone call "Sophia" from behind them; they turned to see Carol Pelitier. "You go talk to your mum" Carl said to the human-zombie hybrid. "I'll go see what Rick and Daryl want." Following her friend's 'orders', Sophia walked as fast as she could towards her loving mother. "Y-Yes... mama?" she asked. Carol simply smiled and brought her daughter into a hug. "Nothing in particular, dear, just wanted to ask how your 'skills recovery' is going" she said, emphasising the 'skills recovery' with air speech marks.

"It's going really w-well" she started, getting caught on the last word. "Thanks to y-you, I'm... I'm getting u-used to walk...walking normally a-agian, the Greenes are helping me recover my... average skills and the boys are helping me... learn to d-defend myself." Carol beamed in response and pecked her daughter's grey cheek in a motherly fashion. "Alright, you can get back to Carl now" she said, dismissing her daughter. Just as Sophia turned and was ready to walk away, Carol called her for one last thing. When the girl turned, she saw a smirk on her mum's face. "By the way Sophia, I saw what you and Carl were doing out there and I don't think _that_ will protect you in the outside world." A white colour appeared on Sophia's cheeks, her equivalent of a blush. "Mum!" she hissed, clearly embarrassed to which her mum just laughed before the human-zombie hybrid left to find her friend.

As Sophia approached her cell, she heard the sounds of discomfort and annoyance coming from her friend Carl's cell. As her eyebrow rose in curiosity, she poked her head in to see said boy sitting on his bed; there was a mix of frustration and anger on his face. "W-What's wrong C...Carl?" she asked him. "Dad and Daryl asked me how well you did in training" he started. "They guessed you hit the target because we came back in from outside but when I told them what happened, they started..." Carl seemed to silence for a second as a flicker of fear appeared on his features. However, after Sophia rubbed his shoulder, he smiled lightly and continued. "They started teasing me about me and you; they even did childish things like make kissing noises."

Sophia couldn't help but laugh. "Well, if I really DID have to learn how to fight walkers" she began, a joking smile on her lips. "I could always...eat them." A fit of laughter erupted from Carl as Sophia simply chuckled; Carl was laughing so much he nearly couldn't breathe. With her friend now on the floor, Sophia offered her arm to him to take and when he stood up, his coloured eyes ended up meeting her milky white ones.

They both just stood there, eyes to eyes. "You know Carl" Sophia began. A small smile came across her lips as she leaned closer towards him whilst Carl began to brush greatly. "What Sophia?" he asked. By now, Sophia practically had him pinned against the wall.

"They can't really tease you if... if it's true."

And with that, the Pelitier girl's eyes closed as her lips locked themselves with his. For a second, she thought she felt him retaliate a little but that had just been him getting used to the feeling because after all, it was his first kiss... and it was with a human-zombie hybrid girl. Enjoying the taste of the boy (not in THAT way), Sophia put her arms around Carl's neck as he put his hands on her waist. The two felt like they could go on like this forever... if someone hadn't interrupted them.

Their kiss was broken when they abruptly pulled away from each other when a _click_ was heard and a flash had occurred. Both teens looked at the entrance to the cell to see the one and only Damien Jenner, grinning evilly and holding a camera in his hand. "You two were REALLY enjoying that, weren't you?" he asked jokingly. Carl's cheeks went red whilst Sophia's went white and Damien laughed. Due to his fit of chuckles, he didn't notice the two lovebirds smirk evilly at each other.

When Damien recovered, he saw both teens glaring at him. "Damien" Carl started calmly. "Hand us the camera." Damien snorted before saying "And why should I?" The glares on their faces disappeared as smirks replaced them. "Because I'm not afraid to hurt you" said Carl. Damien was only a little affected by Carl's threat but would be ready to run for his life after hearing what the girl had to say.

"And I'm not afraid to eat you" Sophia said, bearing her teeth in a playful manner.

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All the other members of the group were sitting around a circular table just chatting when they heard a scream. They all looked in the direction of where it came from to see Damien running towards them, a camera in his hands and looking terrified. "GET YOUR KIDS AWAY FROM ME!" he screamed, directing the plea towards Carol and Rick. As Damien turned a corner and disappeared from their eyes, Carl appeared shouting "Give me the camera!" with Sophia following close behind. When they too disappeared, the adults just looked at each other and laughed.

Rick and Daryl never teased Carl again when they found out he basically had a zombie for a girlfriend later that day.


	3. Guardian devil

_(A/N – I just want to point out that a second OC of mine will be appearing in this chapter. However, unlike Damien Jenner, this one will only be appearing in this chapter instead of throughout the whole series but I can promise that the OC will appear in my other 'walking dead' story I have planned for the future called 'The snake's fatal bite')_

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**Love's dark side – Guardian devil**

Carl sighed in sadness as he walked around the chained fence surrounding the entire prison, fiddling with the new walkie-talkie that everyone now had one of to stay in contact. It was ok to be back in the courtyard because Andrea had been kind enough to bring some ammo with her on her visit from Woodbury; enough to kill all the walkers and make the courtyard safe again. Honestly though, Carl couldn't care less right now if it was infested or not; he just wanted to stay as far away from his girlfriend Sophia as possible... that is, if she doesn't break up with him.

They had only officially been a couple for a week and he had ALREADY messed everything up. It had all started when Sophia had gone out on a run with Michonne and Maggie to get supplies for the group and Carl hadn't been told about it. When they had got back, Carl immediately started saying how he had been worried and that she should have told him to keep him informed. However, being the stubborn girl she is (a trait she picked up from her step-father figure Daryl), Sophia had stated that Carl was her boyfriend, not her father and that he didn't NEED to know where she had gone because she could take care of herself just like before due to her being able to walk ordinarily again and was able to talk properly again.

Carl had emotionally taken this in the completely wrong direction and before they knew it, they had started an argument. Carl had been saying things about how she wouldn't be AS useful as someone else and Sophia had been saying stuff to do with where Carl stood in her family and that he didn't have to poke his head in other people's business because he wasn't her father. After about an hour of being at each other's throats, Sophia had stated that she really couldn't be bothered to argue anymore and that they would sort it out after she had calmed down. That had been where Carl crossed the line, where his anger had got the better of him.

He had whispered 'undead bitch' and she had heard him.

The next thing he had heard was Sophia crying and running footsteps and Carl had turned to try and catch her and tell her he didn't mean it; that he was angry but when he had turned around, he saw the glaring faces of EVERYONE in their group (even Merle and Michonne were glaring). Unable to take the looks from his friends, Carl had promptly walked past them and left the prison for the courtyard.

And here he was now, simply walking around whilst trying to figure out how to get Sophia to forgive him because he knew that if he didn't do something, she would break up with him. Carl felt a tear leave his eye at the thought of this; he wouldn't be able to talk to her again without someone glaring, he wouldn't be able to smile at her in the same way, he wouldn't be able to hold her hand whilst their explored the surrounding woods with Sophia's zombie scent masking his human one, he wouldn't be able to hold her at night after she would go to him after having a nightmare and he wouldn't be able to kiss her surprisingly soft lips whilst smirking at Daryl, who hadn't got his first girlfriend till he was seventeen.

Carl was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of static coming from the walkie-talkie in his hand. He held down the button which allowed him to talk and said "Carl here, who is this and what do you want?" in a grumpy tone, not wanting to talk to anyone at the moment. "Sorry Carl" replied the person whose voice betrayed them as Damien Jenner. "Just making sure all our walkies our working." When he didn't he continue, Carl attached his walkie to his belt and was about to go back to the task of finding a way for Sophia to forgive him when he noticed something peculiar about one of the walkers outside the fence.

This walker was different from all the others the group had ever encountered, it had gray skin whilst all the others had the colour that showed where they came from (Sophia only has grey skin because of Damien's 'half cure'), it had needle like teeth instead of a normal set and its finger nails had appeared to have grown sharp enough to be claws whilst they were as long as an average pen; it was shirtless and bald whilst it only wore a pair of red trousers and black shoes.

The strange walker came right up to the fence and would've been right up in Carl's face if it wasn't for the chained fence. The walker just seemed to look at him for a moment, inspecting him almost. Suddenly, the 'walker' jumped RIGHT OVER the chained fence and the barbed wire at the top before landing on one knee with its right hand's knuckles on the courtyard grass to stabilise it, only a couple of feet away from Carl. When the walker turned around, he noticed that there was blood coming out of the 'walkers' eyes as if it had crying and there was masses of droll escaping its lips. Carl quickly removed his gun from its holster on his belt and shot the 'walker' in the face before it fell over.

Now safe, Carl decided to head back to the prison and sort out the problem he and Sophia had had earlier. As he was walking past the 'walkers' corpse, his eyes almost popped out of his head as he saw tiny little (roots of a plant size) tentacles erupt from the hole his gun had given to the walker and they started to HEAL the wound; this walker was still alive!

No, this wasn't a walker, this was something COMPLETLY new.

The creature got back on its feet right before the young boy who by now was stunned with fear and shock. It looked at him silently and reached its clawed hand out to grab him and force him to become its next meal when it was blown back to the ground by a second bullet; this one from a sniper rifle. "CARL!" the boy heard Damien shout over the walkie-talkie attached to his belt. "Get the hell out of there!" At the order, Carl immediately dashed for a guard tower as the creature got back to its feet with its again healed head and it gave chase.

When Carl reached the top of the guard tower, he looked over the side to see the creature rip the door to said tower from its hinges before it threw it away carelessly and it began to climb the stairs to its target. By know, Carl was literally drenched in fear because he was trapped in the guard tower and the creature was coming for him whilst he didn't have a way to defend himself. However, Carl then noticed out of the corner of his eye that at one part of the chained fence that guarded the main part of the prison, there had been a cut against the barbed wire.

Gathering all his strength and courage, Carl jumped off the guard tower's railing just as the creature saw him and he flew through the area of missing barbed wire. He landed on the ground but quickly rolled back to his feet only to hear a thud. He looked behind him to see his chaser, on the ground because it had miss jumped and the barbed wire had cut its legs clean off. In any other situation, Carl would cheer at the sight but not this time because he had a feeling what was about to happen. Only two seconds had passed when a squelching sound filled the air and Carl realised his prediction was coming true.

The creature was _growing new legs_.

Carl began running once again; he had to go somewhere; ANYWHERE away from this thing. However, there was a problem – Carl had only ever been to the cell block the group stayed in, the halls connected to it and the courtyard outside the prison...

So it didn't surprise him when he found himself trapped between the creature that had caught up to him and a dead end of a brick wall.

As the creature walked towards him, Carl closed his eyes and began remembering the most important things in his life. He remembered his father, his uncle Shane, his mother, his...Sophia. God, he would miss Sophia, his beautiful Sophia. He quickly opened his eyes and noticed the creature was now in lunging distance of its meal. Carl began to cry and said "I'm sorry Sophia, I'm so sorry" as he shut his eyes and waited for it all to end.

_Bang!_

A gunshot rang through the air and Carl's eyes opened to see the creature clutching its chest where a hole had been made; presumably by a handgun due to the size. The creature moaned in pain and grief as it fell to its knees and Carl saw Sophia a few feet behind it, a handgun and some sort of sniper scope in her hands. Just as Carl was about to walk towards her, the dying creature let one last moan escape its lips before...

The top half of it blew up, smothering Carl in its guts and goo.

In agonising displeasure, Carl wiped the goo from his eyes and opened them to see Sophia actually... smiling and giggling. It only took a few seconds for her to fall on the floor laughing. As she rolled around, Carl walked past the now dead creature and towards the human zombie hybrid and waited for her to stop laughing at his displeasure even though he deserved it. After about another minute, Sophia's laughter stopped and she back to her feet only to be hugged by Carl.

"Sophia" he started whilst he cried. "I'm so sorry! I truly am, please don't break up with me; I'll miss you too much! I didn't mean ANY of what I said, I was angry and I was being stupid and it nearly got me killed! I..." he was cut off when Sophia shut him up... the romantic way.

Carl pulled away from her after a good twenty seconds and he started at her in shock. "It's alright Carl" Sophia said with a small smile on her face. "I understand now why you got on my case after I left and didn't tell you; I guess I would've done the same if I were you." She took his human hand in her own grey one. "You were worried about me; you didn't want me to leave." Carl nodded before he hugged her again tightly. He didn't want to let her go again; he just wanted to hold her forever.

Sophia eventually let go of him and after a bit of persistence, got Carl to let go of her. As they were about to leave for the cell block, Sophia noticed Carl looking at the lower body that had belonged to his constant pursuer. "How did you kill it?" he asked simply. Sophia reached into her trouser pocket and removed the sniper scope he had seen her holding earlier. "It's a thermal scope" she said. "After two shots to the head didn't kill it, Damien gave it to me and when I looked through it, I saw a red splodge on its back so I shot at it and it worked." Happy with the answer, Carl looked back at the lower body of the creature once more. "So these new creatures have one specific point you have to shoot; each one probably being different. Interesting."

"Alright, let's go lovebirds, people are getting worried." The two teens to see Damien Jenner watching them with a sniper rifle in his hands and a smirk on his face as they blushed, pink for Carl and white for Sophia. As the two held hands and walked back to the cell block, Carl whispered to her "thank you for saving me, you're a true guardian angel." Sophia looked him in the eye and gave him a peck on the cheek for the comment before remembering something she had heard on TV once. As the memory passed through her human mind, she smirked at her boyfriend and said...

"No, my mum says I can be naughty a lot sometimes so I can't be a guardian angel but I'd be happy to be your guardian devil."

* * *

_(A/N – And there you have it; the latest update of the series. If you have any questions or wonders about Carl's creature chaser (the diabolus) and want to know the answer before 'the snake's fatal bite' is uploaded, don't be afraid to ask me in a review or PM!)_


	4. Date

**Love's dark side – Date**

"Hey Sophia?" a voice said in a whisper.

The human-zombie hybrid looked over to her boyfriend Carl Grimes as they sat at the stump of a tree just outside the prison's perimeter chain fence. Sophia rolled her eyes before replying "Carl, you do know you can talk normally right? They won't hurt you if you're with me" also in a quiet whisper just to mock him. Said boy then looked around in an effort to prove her right and make her happy (he loved it when she was happy) and saw that again, she was right.

With Sophia having the body of a walker also came the stench of rotting flesh, Carl didn't mind it because every time he smelt her he would always remember the saying 'it's not what's on the outside, it's what's on the inside'. In this case, that saying meant EVERYTHING because even though she was still a walking corpse, it still had Sophia's mind and that's why Carl loved her but another reason he didn't mind the smell was because if he were to go outside with her, they would be absolutely fine.

Any walkers that would walk by the young couple would either simply skim past or it would take a little look at Carl before walking on again; the closest call for the Grimes boy and Pelitier girl had been 2 weeks ago when Carl had accidentally connected arms with a stray walker and it had felt the scene of something... _fresh _on its skin. It had turned and Carl was pretty sure that if Sophia hadn't hissed at it like some sort of cat, it would've lunged for him.

"Alright then" Carl said, now speaking in his normal tone instead of a whisper. Sophia gave a smile before asking him to continue in what he was going to ask; a small blush suddenly appeared on his cheeks. "Well, it has come to my attention that... because we have never had the chance... me and you have never actually gone on a... date." Carl paused and looked at his girlfriend to see her with a smaller smile than before and a peculiar look on her face. Was it... acceptance?

"Carl, it's alright that we've never gone on a date; you don't have to shower me with all those cheesy things like flowers, pick up lines and chocolates." Sophia paused as her smile disappeared and a thoughtful look came upon her lips. Seconds later, it turned shy. "Actually, I wouldn't mind chocolates." Carl laughed at her greed for the sugary treat that came in all sorts of varieties; if Sophia loved anything (apart from him) it was chocolate. "No Sophia" Carl began. "I WANT to give you a nice night out. Come on, just ONE date!" Sophia held in the urge to laugh at how her boyfriend was pleading her like a child would plead its parent; in fact, she could've SWORN that she saw a walker or two RAISE AN EYEBROW at them. Sophia turned her head away from Carl as she made up her mind. When she turned back to see him a moment later, he looked anxious.

Sophia sighed. "Alright Carl, you can take me on ONE date but..." She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence because before she knew it, she was trapped in one of Carl's famous death hugs and he was pecking her on the cheek quicker than the roadrunner could... well, run. After much struggling whilst blushing a clear white, Sophia broke free of her boyfriend's grip and led him back to the prison so they could both prepare for the coming night.

It was only seconds later did Carl realise what he had got his girlfriend to agree to.

* * *

"Wait, what did you just say?"

Carl sighed as he facepalmed himself at his father's reaction. Unable to prepare the date himself, Carl had gone to the guy's 'annual meeting' (men talking about men stuff) and asked Rick if he could help his son prepare the date for him and Sophia. Unfortunately, Rick had been drinking a cup of water at the time so as soon as the question left Carl's lips, his father spat his drink out all over Daryl; this had caused everyone in the room to look at Rick and for Merle to start laughing at Daryl's misery.

"I said me and Sophia have a date tonight and I need your help" the thirteen year old boy repeated grudgingly. There was then an awkward silence for the next twenty seconds as every man in the room processed what Carl had asked his father. After a while, Damien Jenner raised his hand as if he was still at secondary school. When Carl raised his eyebrow at his big brother figure, Damien asked "Why do you HAVE to go out on a date? You've been with her for like what, three weeks now?" Damien looked to the other men for confirmation and they all nodded.

Carl sighed in irritation. "Because DAMIEN" he started, saying his friend's name more specifically than anything he'd said in the last five minutes. "I realised just earlier that even though we HAVE been together for three weeks that me and Sophia have never been on an actual date and she's the type of girl who deserves at least to know what one is like so we're going to have at least one." Carl paused and took in a deep breath to calm down his sudden anger towards Damien. "Now" he started again, calmer this time. "Can you guys please help me?"

**I find it difficult to write in different accents so Merle and Daryl lines will be written as normal.**

Daryl raised his hand just like Damien had prior, earning a laugh from his brother before Carl motioned for him to speak. "I ain't got anything planned" he said. "I'll help you out with Sophia." Merle scoffed from where he was sat next between Daryl and Hershel. "You?" he said sarcastically. "No offense little brother but you're not exactly the best with women." Daryl glared at his brother as everything seemed to go quiet around them. "And where's your proof?" Daryl asked.

Damien tapped Daryl's shoulder from where he was sat beside the younger Dixon brother. "I've got proof." All the men turned to look at Damien. He looked Daryl in the eye and said "You haven't confessed your feelings for Carol yet." Chuckles began to fill the room and before long, there was full blown laughter as Daryl sat at the table with a red face which for once, wasn't from anger. "Err okay" he began, a nervous tone in his voice. "This is about Carl and Sophia so can we please move on from me and Carol."

"What about me and you?" Carol called from round the corner.

Daryl dropped his head to the table the man were all sat around as the men's laughter doubled; so much that Merle was nearly on the floor. After a while of joining in on Daryl's misery, Carl walked up to the embarrassed redneck and tapped his shoulder. When Daryl caught his eye, the young boy hushed the other men as Daryl got to his feet and stood behind Carl. "Now" the boy asked. "Is anyone here apart from Daryl going to help me?" At the question, the men all looked at each other before they all smiled and Damien raised his hand before saying "Screw it, we'll all help you."

Carl couldn't help but smile as all the men got to their feet (in Hershel's case, crutches), maybe this date wouldn't be so bad after all. "Alright then" Rick began. "Hershel and Glenn, you two will help Carl with his clothes. Damien, you and me are going out on a run for some supplies for the group and extra stuff for the date and you two..." Rick paused as he thought for something the Dixons could do to help his son; it didn't take long before Merle threw in a suggestion whilst smirking. "We'll teach him about sex."

Carl's chin dropped to the floor. "WE'RE BOTH THIRTEEN!"

* * *

Carl blushed as he lied down next to Sophia on top of an old blanket in the prison courtyard, watching the stars. The reason for the blush was that to look 'cuter than usual' (Carl's words as he first saw his girlfriend that night), Carol and the women had put Sophia in a dark blue dress which unfortunately for Carl, was a size too big. Problem – he could see her cleavage. Why? The Dixon brother's 'teachings' of human repopulation had somewhat damaged Carl's mind more than it already was.

"This is really nice Carl" Sophia said, pecking him on the cheek to which he blushed greatly. "N-no-no p-p-p-p-problem" he stuttered in embarrassment, causing his girlfriend to laugh to which he smiled, as least she was happy. "Why are you so nervous tonight?" she asked. "You've never been this nervous before, even when we're out with walkers."

Carl was about to respond when he heard muttering from behind him and Sophia. Wanting to make sure they were safe, the young boy got to his feet and made his way to where he heard the noise which conveniently, was the locked gate back to the main prison. Making his way along the side of the fence, Carl managed to catch sight of the Dixon brothers. When Carl glared at them, they looked like a pair of deer in a set of headlights. "Hey little Carl" Merle said, trying to sound innocent. "How's the date going?" Daryl asked.

Instead of replying to his two 'teachers', Carl simply turned and walked in the opposite direction back to his girlfriend. With a sigh, he asked "Sophia, I'm REALLY sorry but do you mind if we move somewhere else? I think my 'teachers' want to get some practical footage for class." Sophia didn't understand what Carl meant by this but obliged; as long as she was with him, she was happy.

As the two grabbed their things and began looking for a new stargazing spot, Sophia raised an eyebrow in curiosity and asked Carl "What did you mean by what you said? Your teachers want 'practical footage'?" A blush came over Carl's cheeks and he swore he could hear Merle and Daryl laughing from somewhere nearby. Gathering up his courage, Carl whispered to his girlfriend what they meant and when he pulled away, he noticed her face was the clearest white as it had ever been.

Suddenly, Sophia's lips turned into a smirk and she said quite loudly "Alright Carl, the next plan of action is getting Daryl together with my mom." This time, the pair knew they heard laughter...

But there was only one laugh.


	5. Comfort

**Love's dark side – comfort**

Sophia Pelitier, the walker with the human mind sighed in that 'I really can't be bothered anymore' tone. For the past two hours, she and the rest of the group had been searching the entire prison (the parts they had claimed) for two members of the group who had run off, Rick Grimes and his son Carl. Via the walkie-talkies they had obtained, Sophia had been told only five minutes ago by Hershel that the rest of the group had found Rick and he was in pretty bad shape so they informed her not to expect any different from her boyfriend if she found him before someone else did but Sophia had to agree, Carl DID have a good reason to run off.

Whilst searching the prison for more supplies, the Dixon brothers had come across another prison survivor and after persuading Merle not to kill the man, had brought him back to their cell block in order to discuss with the group what to do with him. After a quite heated discussion, the group decided that they would not accept the man into the group. Knowing that he was going to have no chance of staying with them, the prisoner decided to taunt them before being kicked out on his backside. Most of the taunts had been fruitless but there was ONE taunt that the prisoner had been able to use due to the knowledge he gained from his old cellmate Andrew which had affected everybody, even if only a little.

He had mentioned 'Lori'.

At that moment, almost everyone's faces had frowns on them as they remembered the horrible fate Rick's wife had met in order to give birth to her daughter Judith. However, no one even suspected that the prisoner would be leaving in a body bag by the hands... of Carl. In a burst of anger, the young teenager had taken the knife that belonged to his girlfriend's mother (just because she happened to be closest to him) and began stabbing the prisoner. In fact, you could say that the group became SCARED of how Carl attacked the prisoner, even after death by multiple thrusts of Carol's knife.

After another whole minute of thrusting the knife into the prisoner's body, Carl left the cell block covered in the man's blood with the scared and shocked faces of his friends, father and girlfriend following him. Rick had said he would go talk to his son to try and calm him down but even half an hour later after the prisoner's body had been disposed off, Rick and Carl hadn't returned which led to the current search.

As she looked across the grassy prison courtyard, Sophia was happy to see a familiar cowboy hat in the horizon but as she got closer, she felt a mass amount of heat well up to her cheeks as she saw her beloved boyfriend Carl, shirtless with a mop of wet hair. Despite the awkward situation, Sophia continued and walked closer towards her boyfriend, who was sitting up with his legs straight out in front of him.

Upon reaching Carl, Sophia let a small smile take over her facial features and despite the white blush that was STILL on her cheeks, put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. "Need a friend?" she asked. Carl looked away from the walkers outside the prison fence and up to the only zombie he cared about. "No, but I'd like my girlfriend please" he replied with an almost cheeky smile. After a roll of her eyes at his childish tone, the Pelitier girl sat down but as a silence overtook them, she began to shuffle about.

"I'm sorry if I scared you."

The awkwardness of the situation disappeared as those words entered the atmosphere. "It's ok" she began. "I understand, you had your reasons." Carl looked at her for a second before putting his white hand on her walker grey one and he interlocked their fingers whilst she shyly smiled. "I don't think I could do that" Sophia said as she looked at the ground in what appeared to be shame. "I might be able to shoot but not continuously stab them." Carl looked at her frowning face and felt himself get angry again but this time, it was at himself for making her sad.

Suddenly, Carl took his girlfriend into a killer bear hug and literally squeezed the life out of her; begging for comfort in his own manner. "C...Carl... let g-go" Sophia pleaded, losing air quickly. In response, Carl loosened up on his grip but made no effort to let go of her completely. "I didn't want to do it" Carl said on the verge of tears and Sophia realised he was talking about Lori. "I h-had to though, she would have come back if I didn't." Sophia's eyes widened in shock.

Eyes now full of sympathy for him, Sophia pulled her arms out of Carl's comfort hug only to put them around his shirtless body in a hug of her own. "Oh Carl" she began as tears began to slowly creep out of the boy's eyes. "I didn't know that you had to do THAT; I'm so sorry." For a while, there was silence between the two 13 year olds but then Sophia said the words that would give her a wet shoulder.

"It's okay to cry, Carl. Let it out."

Words did not meet the zombie-hybrid's ears but a wave of weeps and cries to which she just increased the strength of her hug on their source whilst giving him an occasional peck on the cheek. After a minute, Sophia heard only a small sniffle as Carl pulled away from her to wipe his eyes. When he looked back at her, his eyes widened as he saw the spot on her shoulder that he had literally DRENCHED with his tears.

"Wow, didn't know I had that much stored up." Sophia laughed a small girly laugh at her boyfriend's shock. "Are you alright now?" she asked. Carl looked down at the ground at the question as if thinking it over before he looked back at her whilst smiling a small smile and said "Yeah, I think so." Satisfied, Sophia stood up and held her hand out for Carl to take. "C'mon, everyone's waiting for you."

* * *

Later that night, Damien had been doing his night-time cell rounds to make sure everyone was sleeping when he came across what was to him, the CUTEST sight he had seen in a long time - Sophia and Carl were together in the same bed, snuggling together in their sleep with the sweetest smiles Damien had ever seen plastered onto their faces. However, even though it WAS the cutest sight he had ever seen, Damien couldn't help but frown at the sleeping teens. Why? This would've been perfect blackmail...

If Sophia hadn't broken his camera last time.


	6. The trouble with women

_(A/N – I have decided that my other Walking dead story 'The snake's fatal bite' will include the ships of Carl/Sophia, Daryl/Carol and Merle/Beth so as a taste of what you can expect, this latest update will include obvious content of all three ships.)_

* * *

**Love's dark side – The trouble with women**

"Pass it here, kid" the older redneck ordered as he held out his hand to Carl Grimes from where he sat between the young teen and his brother, Daryl. The boy in the cowboy hat took one last swig of Merle's personal alcohol (which had been only his third) before forcefully pushing the glass bottle of vodka into his hand for it to only be taken off of him by Daryl, who took one big swig. "Eh man" Merle said in frustration. "I've got the biggest problem out of any of us, now give it here." With that, the handicapped redneck snatched the bottle of vodka from his sibling, all three of them having frowns on their faces.

They had all mucked up in some way or another in the last day and that was why it was only them three currently within the cell block; everyone else was in the prison courtyard relaxing and at least two of the adults were on watch for walkers or soldiers of Woodbury. Within their hearts, Carl and the Dixon brothers knew that they would rather be out in the warm, grassy courtyard than in the cell block but they couldn't go out there. Why? Three sources of 'eternal wrath' were currently in the same location.

The source that Carl was avoiding was of course, his girlfriend Sophia Pelitier, the human-zombie hybrid. The young couple had had another argument except this time, Sophia hadn't been the one in the wrong; Carl had. Whilst the rest of the group had been eating their lunch, Carl had gone outside the prison's protective fence to claim the bright blue flower that he wanted to give to his girlfriend. When he returned, she had been happy and even rewarded him with a peck on the cheek but when she found out he had gone outside the prison fence to get the flower, her attitude had changed completely. As punishment for his 'recklessness', Carl had suffered a half an hour lecture on how he wasn't safe with walkers without Sophia and to his displeasure, NO ONE tried to help him out. In fact, if anything, the group had been smirking at him whilst Sophia screamed at him.

However, that was NOTHING compared to the mess Daryl was in.

Daryl had discovered he had feelings for Carol Pelitier when the group first overtook the prison. Not wanting to appear as if he had turned soft, Daryl had decided to simply look at her from afar but like all men, it was only a matter of time until Carol unknowingly broke the redneck's defences down and he was unable to resist her anymore. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Daryl had confronted the woman who had seized his attention one night and luckily (and surprisingly) for him, Carol had revealed that she had feelings for him since the time period of him constantly volunteering to look for Sophia in the woods. The two had officially become a couple after that night but this was where Daryl had messed up – he didn't want the group to know about his and Carol's relationship. In response, Carol had clearly stated that she didn't want a repeat of her marriage with Ed and she wasn't going to be Daryl's 'guilty secret'. That had happened yesterday and Daryl had been avoiding her since.

Carl and Daryl did not know why Merle had been sulking with them for the past day because he refused to tell them the full story; all he had said about his situation was _"if they lay their eyes on me for even one second, I will be sleeping with major injuries for at least a week." _Even though this was all Merle had told his brother and Carl, it didn't take them long to realise that for some strange reason, it was Beth Greene that Merle was avoiding; the main bit of evidence being that both males had been awoken by the sound of Beth's voice shouting _"MERLE DIXON!" _in the angriest tone they had ever heard from her and before the redneck had disappeared with the Greene girl dragging him by the hand, everyone swore they could see fear in his eyes.

Merle took a swig of his vodka bottle as the other two sighed. "I'm being honest right now" The Dixons heard Carl begin. "We must be the dumbest humans left on this planet." Even though Carl had been insulting them as well as himself, Daryl and Merle couldn't help but grunt in agreement. For the next ten minutes, the trio sat in a frustrating silence; it was only interrupted when Daryl's curiosity got the better of him. "Eh, Merle" he began. "You said that you have been with me and Carl recently because if a _certain _member of the group laid their eyes on you, you would be spending the next few days in a great amount of pain." Merle looked Daryl directly in the eye before nodding and taking another swig of his vodka, signalling for his brother to continue. "Now, if doesn't take a genius to realise that after putting the evidence into consideration that it's Beth who's pissed at you and me and Carl came clean so you should too." For a second, Merle just looked at Daryl like he was mad but after a small staring contest; the older redneck handed the vodka bottle to Carl and cleared his throat.

"About two weeks ago, me and Girlie were on watch together after being assigned the duty by officer friendly. For the first hour, everything was pretty normal – She stayed up in a guard tower with a sniper rifle whilst I patrolled the fence with an assault rifle. However, out of the blue, a large group of walkers appeared out of nowhere and even with all my bullets and hers, there were too many walkers to take out so I had to resort to using my bayonet." Merle paused as he raised his metal 'hand' with a knife on the end.

"I took them out one by one, being sure to keep an eye out for Beth up in the tower every once and a while. However, at one point, it appeared that I had been paying more attention to her safety than my own because before I knew it, there was a stray walker gnashing at my neck from behind me. With him snipping at me and about ten more walkers at the fence, I honestly thought that my time was up but then who should come to the rescue? Little miss Greene."

"I didn't have a chance to thank her or nothing because she randomly put her arms around my neck and started bawling her eyes out, going on about how she thought she had lost me, how she wouldn't be able to forgive herself and how she would feel guilty in every way. Eventually, I managed to shut her up for a moment and sat her down, telling her how it couldn't happen because of our age gap but she wouldn't have any of it...

And baby brother, you know how much I like tough ladies."

Both Carl and Daryl just stared at the older man in shock at his story. "Wow" Carl started, still in disbelief. "That's quite a story, Merle." Said redneck gave a small nod but then sighed. "Don't matter though" he said. "We all fucked up, big time." Daryl, who had taken the vodka off of Carl, took the last swig from the bottle before dropping it to the ground, allowing it to shatter before saying "There has to be SOMETHING we can do. I mean, I don't normally care about losing a woman but Carol is... different. And it's not like we can ignore them for the rest of our lives."

Carl let a small smile take over his face. "I don't wanna lose Sophia, guys. There are so many things I'd miss about her." Both brothers looked at him and raised an eyebrow each, asking him 'what would you miss?' "I'd miss snuggling with her at night, I'd miss holding onto her small, fragile form but most of all, I think I'd miss her... smile. If I don't fix this, I won't be able to see her smile the way again." After hearing a subtle 'aww' from Daryl, Carl turned to him and asked him "Anything you'd miss about Carol?"

The redneck looked away from his friend and brother as recent memories invaded his mind. "She's special" he began. "Carol is different from all the other girlfriends I've had and that's only about five." A small chuckle broke out of Merle's voice box but that didn't stop Daryl. "She's got a spark about her, she's got a lovely personality, she just makes me... happy." A frown appeared on his face as his smile disappeared. "And I fucked it up because I'm afraid of what others will think." Daryl looked towards his brother. "What about you, Merle? Got anything you'd miss about your 'little Greene girl?"

Merle smirked. "I guess if I was going to miss anything about her it would have to be her constant bickering." Carl and Daryl's face scrunched up in confusion but they wouldn't be like that for long. "It shows that she hasn't given up on me, like many people have. She thinks that I'm still worthy of what a normal human has and for that, I'm grateful and I love her for it but like you two, there's just something about her... smile that lights up my day." Carl and Daryl both smiled small smiles before all three of them locked eyes and smiled at each other.

"That's really sweet."

All three froze. They turned slowly to the worst sight of their lives.

Sophia Pelitier, Carol Pelitier and Beth Greene. All Smirking.

Confusion replaced the horrified faces of the three males for a second as they wondered how their girlfriends had heard them, they had been out in the courtyard and they hadn't been shouting so they couldn't have heard them from outside. Suddenly, anger overtook the faces of Carl Grimes and Merle Dixon whilst a pale straight face of fear appeared on Daryl's features as they realised how their girlfriends had heard them.

Daryl had dropped the glass vodka bottle.

The three girls were unable to forgive their boyfriends until dinner later that day because Carl and Merle had been pre-occupied chasing a frightened Daryl all over the cell block.


	7. One or the other

_(A/N – No_

_I'm not even going to bother apologising because no matter how much I do, it cannot make up for how much wait I've put you all through._

_I can't even say how sorry I am for this long wait. For the first week since the last update, I had ANOTHER virus (thank you little sister) which got cleared quite quickly but after that, since then, I've come down with quite a bad case of writer's block on this, my other oneshot series and my main story. However, I have finally returned and from now on, I guess this oneshot series is now considered AU since it will still contain a living Merle Dixon and no extra survivors. Now, this update is quite special because it's the first that is created from an idea I was given by one of you guys and it is the longest one (so far) for this series._

_The idea for this oneshot comes from __Rebel29__. Thanks for the input dude, you are awesome!_

_Plus, gonna admit, this one contains quite a bit of angst.)_

* * *

**Love's dark side – One or the other**

Rick Grimes sighed as he searched the shelves of an abandoned store in the his home town of King County. Him, Glenn and Daryl had gone out on a run to get more supplies from Rick's home town for what reason Daryl and Glenn didn't know but the reason was that Rick was hoping he would run into Morgan again. Now that the 'war' with the Governor was over, Morgan would surely have no problems joining the prison group if Rick could convince him. After all, maybe it would give Morgan a chance to bond with everyone, meet people again.

Rick smiled as his mind drifted to his son, Carl. He really had done well to survive this far in the apocalypse and Carl had gone through a lot. He had survived a bullet to the stomach, had the bravery to kill his zombified 'uncle' and near death mother, not to mention fight in a war. As Rick thought about his beloved son, his mind drifted also to the person who Carl was now closest with over his father and honestly, Rick didn't mind. Yes, Sophia Pelitier might be different in more ways than one but she made Carl happy through this mess and if Carl was happy, Rick was happy.

_Clang!_

Rick drew his Colt Python. 357 magnum and quickly pointed it at where the sound of dropped cans hitting the floor had emitted from. Now, in the sight of Rick's gun was a human male. He was dressed in a sheriff's uniform identical to Rick's; he was armed with an M1911 pistol and he had black skin to match his short afro and shortly shaved beard. Rick and the man both lowered their guns respectively as they recognised the other man vice versa.

"Nadeen?" Rick asked. "Nadeen Hravay?"

The black man inspected Rick up and down with his eyes.

"Grimes?"

Rick began to chuckle slowly as did Nadeen. As the realisation that one of their friends was alive hit them, their chuckles escalated into full laughter. After another moment, the two literally began laughing their heads off before they walked towards each other and engulfed themselves in a manly hug. "Nadeen" Rick began. "It is you. I haven't seen you since I left the station to go after those criminals that put me in a coma."

As the two released each other, Rick noticed that Nadeen had a smile on his face. "Yeah, it's been a while." Almost instantly, Nadeen's smile disappeared and a frown replaced it. "So Rick, why are you here? Where've you been hiding out?" Rick sighed; he hoped he would've been able to have a friendly conversation with the man he considered a brother (apart from Shane and Daryl) but as with every other human these days, all confrontations led to talking about living and surviving.

"I've been hiding up in this prison quite a bit up the road with my son and a group of other survivors. We've been hiding there for quite a while now." Nadeen raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you mean the West Georgia correctional facility?" he asked to which Rick nodded. "If you and your group are stationed that far away, why are you all the way down here?" Knowing this conversation was going to drag out a bit, Rick found the checkout counter of the store and sat on top of it. "In all honesty Nadeen, two members of my group and I didn't come back here _just _for supplies" said Rick, deciding to let Nadeen know that he wasn't alone.

"When this all started, I was in a coma so I had no idea what was going on. Where ever I looked there was either a dead body or some blood. Basically, because I had no idea what was going on I nearly got myself eaten within the first ten minutes in which I was back on my feet and I would've been eaten too... if it wasn't for this man and his son, Morgan Jones and Duane Jones."

"When I woke up, they explained to me about how there had been an apocalypse during the time I was in a coma, said that people were eating each other and turning other people into more of them. I didn't know if Carl and Lori..." Rick sighed at the painful memory of his wife but continued. "...were alive at that point so I told Morgan and Duane that I had to leave town and see if they were nearby. So, to stay in contact, I gave him a walkie-talkie to contact me."

"I never heard him again... until a couple of weeks ago."

"Me, my son and this woman called Michonne came here looking for weapons when we were attacked by this masked gunman. We had a short gunfight before my son shot him in the chest. However, he was wearing a bullet proof vest so he only suffered a nasty bruise. I unmasked him and it turned out that it was Morgan; he had survived all these months in this little town even after walkers took his wife _and _his son. I asked him to come back with us to the prison but he refused... so me, my son and Michonne took what we could find and left... I haven't seen him since."

Rick looked up at Nadeen who had a look of sympathy on his face. Assuming pity, Rick sighed and gave his friend a sad smile. "There's no need to pity me or him, Nadeen. Me and Morgan are strong men. You can take my word on him and you know me like the back of your hand." Nadeen sighed and ran his hand across his face. "No Rick, that's not what I'm pitying you about." Rick dropped his sad smile and gave his friend a strong stare. "What are you talking about, Nadeen?" Rick asked him sternly. Nadeen sighed again. "Rick, I'm sorry but..."

"Your friend is dead. Shot down last week by some bastard in a lab coat heading towards the neighbouring town."

Rick froze for a second, taking in the words just spoken by Nadeen Hravay. After a moment, Rick looked down at the ground with a neutral stare and simply sat silent. Honestly, he knew that Morgan wouldn't have lasted much longer; the guy was losing (if he hadn't lost it already) his mind over the death of his son and he was on his own. Even with the large amount of traps he had placed, Morgan had _still _fallen to a human. Yes, Rick was sad but he knew if not then, it would've happened eventually.

"Well enough about me and my problems" Rick said after a moment of silence. "How have you been throughout all of this?" Nadeen, who had been standing the entire time, walked over to his friend and sat next to him on the store checkout counter. "Not good Rick, not good at all. When this whole thing started, me, the wife and the kids hid away in our house. We watched the president's speech on the matter and since he said to remain indoors, that's what we did."

"Thing is, it wasn't _fucking _good enough."

"It had been about three weeks since it started and me and my family knew that we were finished. The army hadn't managed to do anything about it which meant there was nothing anyone could do. My son, Hassan, he was always one to give up and take it as it comes. He said to me 'why fight the inevitable, dad? May as well go now' so... he opened the _fucking _door and they piled in." Nadeen abruptly stopped as a sob broke through him and Rick patted him on the back in a comforting manner.

"They ate Hassan... They ate my little girl... and they... they... they ate my Kristina, Rick. Right in front of me and you know what I did? I ran. I ran away from my dying loved ones as they pleaded me to help them and all I did was... run. The only reason I'm here talking to you right now is because the dead were too busy eating my family."

Rick stared at Nadeen in pity and shock as his friend unleashed rivers of water from his eyes. Rick had known Nadeen Hravay from when he first joined the sheriff's department of King County's law enforcement and he had _never _known Nadeen as someone to run away from danger or fear. Nadeen, after crying away his grief, looked Rick in the eye. "So from then on, as I drove away to find a more secure location" he continued. "I swore that any dead man I see _will _be a dead man."

A knock on the window interrupted the pair. Both sheriffs looked up and through the store's door window to see Glenn and Daryl, the former carrying a basket of supplies varying from baby formula and food to weapons and car tools for the group's vehicles. Rick let a small smile overtake his features as he looked into the face of a frowning Nadeen Hravay.

"I know a secure location for you."

* * *

The car stopped and all four passengers stepped out of the car, Nadeen heading to the boot of the vehicle to grab the supplies Glenn and Daryl found in King County whilst the former and latter went up to their group leader. "Hey Rick" Glenn started. "Me and Daryl were talking and... we think that you _may _have made the wrong decision with accepting Nadeen into our group." Suddenly, an angry expression appeared on Rick's face and as he looked at his fellow survivors, they knew they had used a wrong choice of words.

"Excuse me?" Rick asked sarcastically. "What do you mean 'I may have made the wrong decision', Glenn?" At this, Glenn lowered his head in a state of what appeared to be shame. "I will have you both know that I have known Nadeen Hravay ever since I started my job at the King County sheriff's department, do either know how long that is?" Neither responded, Rick took their silence as a 'no'. "That is fifteen years and with that amount of time, I think I can say that I know Nadeen _a lot_ more than either of you two do."

Daryl decided to take this moment to speak. "Yeah but Rick, from what we _all_ heard on the way back from Nadeen himself, I can go and guess that he's lost his mind a little through grief, like your friend Morgan." Rick winched at the mention of his friend's name but Daryl didn't notice. "So I just think that Nadeen is one of those people who works better on his own instead of in a group."

Rick scoffed at Daryl's lack of confidence in him. Like Rick had stated already, he had known Nadeen for fifteen years whereas Glenn and Daryl had only known him for barely ten minutes. What right did they have to say if he was a bad man or not? "Listen now you two" Rick said forcefully, speaking to his two fellow survivors like small children. "I know that I said that we are a group, a family and that I am not your governor but if I am going to ask the group to trust me on _anything _then I am asking you to trust me on that man over there called Nadeen Hravay."

Daryl and Glenn looked away from their group leader and into each others eyes, their faces saying to each other that they knew the argument was futile and that Rick's decision on Nadeen was final. "Alright then" Daryl started. "If you think that Nadeen is fine to be here, that's your call." Rick hesitated for a moment before nodding his thanks to the tow of them as they walked off. For a while, Rick simply watched his two friends in silence, slightly regretting being forceful on them with words but if he was right about anything, it was Nadeen being good.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sounds of a basket crashing to the ground and a gun cocking.

Rick turned around at a speed unknown to man and was met with the sight of the back of Nadeen Hravay, who had dropped the basket full of supplies to the ground and was now slowly raising his M1911 pistol to point it at someone. As Rick saw who his friend was preparing to shoot, his eyes widened in horror.

The girlfriend of his son Carl, Sophia Pelitier.

Sophia Pelitier.

The _human-zombie hybrid._

_Mind of a human, body of a walker._

On instinct, Rick drew his gun ready to shoot Nadeen but then remembered who was preparing to shoot Carl and Sophia. Not wanting to fatally injure his only true friend, Rick dropped his gun and charged at Nadeen, ready to fight him if he had to. "NOOO!" Rick screamed before grabbing Nadeen's gun and pulling it and its carrier to the ground. Unfortunately, Nadeen had pulled the trigger just before Rick had tackled him so a bullet was fired and it hit Sophia Pelitier...

In the shoulder, only giving her shock since she couldn't feel pain.

Wanting to put an end to the 'walkers' life, Nadeen flipped Rick onto his back and straddled his waist in order to gain an advantage. "I don't wanna hurt you Rick, don't make me!" Nadeen shouted before punching Rick in the face. Leaning over, the black sheriff reclaimed his firearm and pointed it at the feet of Glenn and Daryl who began running back after hearing the gunshot. "Stay back!" he shouted as he shot at the ground in front of the pair, halting them in their tracks.

With the gap he had given himself, Nadeen pointed his gun back at Sophia to shoot but before he could get a good aim, the gun was again grabbed by Rick Grimes. "Nadeen, stop!" he shouted in protest. In response, Nadeen forcibly wrenched his gun from Rick's hold and hit him in the face with it. With his friend stunned, Nadeen stood up from straddling his fellow sheriff and pointed his gun at the head of Sophia, ready to kill.

_BANG!_

Rick's eyes widened as an image of a dead Sophia dropping to the ground entered his head. However, when he turned his head to look in the direction Nadeen and Sophia had been in, he was met with a much different sight. Nadeen was looking down to his chest in shock at the sight of a bullet wound through his chest. Rick turned his head the other way to see, that behind a shocked Daryl and Glenn, stood Merle Dixon with his gun raised.

Realising what had happened; Rick jumped to his feet and rushed over to his wounded friend who was now on his back on the grassy ground of the prison courtyard. As Sophia, Glenn, Daryl, Merle and the rest of the group approached the two sheriffs, Rick held Nadeen's head in his lap in support whilst blood began to flow from his body.

"I'm so sorry, Nadeen!" Rick said truly to his bleeding friend. As he noticed the rest of the group were in shouting range, he looked up to them angrily. "Back off!" he shouted. "All of you! Back off!" The group all stopped at his request and Rick looked down to Nadeen's face, which seemed to be losing its colour.

"Whoever started this whole mess" Nadeen began with a heavy tone. "Us survivors turning on each other... it's what they want, or wanted. I tried to warn you, Rick." By now, everyone was simply spectating the event that was happening before them and Carol had moved over to her hybrid daughter to check her shoulder wound. "You need a group of trust, Rick. A group that can work together and protect each other." Carefully, Nadeen moved his head upwards to look Sophia in the eye before moving to look Rick in the eye again. "You need to cast her aside, she'll turn the group against each other as you just saw with you and I" the black sheriff said solemnly. "Rick, I just want what's best for you to survive, you're my friend."

Rick chuckled sadly as Nadeen's eyes began to slowly close. "No Nadeen, you don't. You want whats best for you." Before Rick could say anything else, Nadeen's eyes closed and his lungs exhaled their last breath. Reluctantly, Rick leaned over Nadeen's body and took his M1911 pistol into his hand, pointed it at Nadeen's head and pulled the trigger.

"We should bury him" Rick said a moment later. No one disagreed, not even Sophia who had been attacked by Nadeen. As Rick looked down at his friend's body, the rest of the group walked back to the cell block... except for one.

"Hey... Rick." Said sheriff looked up see Merle, his friend's killer.

"I'm sorry about killing your friend and all but I was protecting Sophia" he said. "Gotta earn my place somewhere." Rick looked away from Merle and back to the dead Nadeen before looking back up to Merle. "I know, Merle" he said with a small smile. "You were doing the right thing. Beth's lucky to have you."

Merle frowned in annoyance at the mention of his girlfriend from his 'frenemy'. "Shut up" he said before walking away, leaving Rick to bury the body of Nadeen Hravay.

* * *

_(A/N – Thank you SO much for reading! This took me like four hours to write but I REALLY enjoyed it! Please leave me a review for this chapter; I want to know what you guys think of my longest oneshot yet._

_By the way, Morgan being killed by a guy in a lab coat? That's a hint for the future story I will be writing__)_


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